Practice Areas
Nigel Wilson has practised in all areas of commercial and civil practice and litigation since his admission in 1993.
He has expertise as counsel and legal adviser in the following areas:
Commercial, Contract, Tort and Insurance Law
Competition and Trade Practices Law
Corporations and Securities Law
Public Law, Administrative and Constitutional Law
Equity, Succession, Charitable and Not-for-Profit
Technology Law, Intellectual Property and Cybersecurity
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Sports Law
Indigenous Rights and Native Title
Commercial, Contract, Tort & Insurance Law
Contract and property
Counsel and legal adviser in relation to numerous contractual and property transactions and disputes involving commercial and residential property contracts, employment contracts, franchises, joint ventures, leases, distribution agreements, lending and guarantee contracts.
Negotiating and drafting of a diverse range of contracts of both a standard and highly-complex nature.
Insurance Law
Counsel and legal adviser in relation to numerous insurance claims for both Australian and international insurers (including statutory insurers) and insureds. These insurance claims have related to the full range of Australian and international insurance policies and risk, including pursuant to contractual and statutory insurances for professional indemnity, directors’ and officers’, industrial special risk, marine, life, disability, motor vehicle, business interruption and public liability cover. These claims have been highly diverse, ranging from bushfire to maritime to power outage claims and have involved complex issues of contractual construction, causation, indemnity, contribution, statutory recovery, double insurance, vicarious liability and loss assessment.
Complex tort and contract claims
Counsel and legal adviser in relation to complex tort and contract claims, including involving governments and public authorities.
Insolvency and debt recovery
Insolvency, debt recovery claims and defences, including numerous actions on behalf of administrators and liquidators, corporations and partnerships, banks and finance companies and private clients.
Media and Defamation
Counsel and legal adviser in relation to defamation proceedings and defences and media law matters and regarding Privacy Act principles.
Mining and resources disputes
Counsel and legal adviser for various Australian mining and resource companies regarding mining tenements.
Professional and Product Liability Law
Counsel and legal adviser in numerous professional and product liability law and personal injuries claims (including catastrophic, multi-million dollar claims).
Workplace law
Counsel and legal in relation to employment and workplace agreements (standard, consulting, Executive and Board), disciplinary matters, terminations, restructures, redundancies, enterprise bargaining, remuneration reviews, workplace investigations, policies and procedures, risk management, compliance, incident response, reporting and litigation.
Competition & Trade Practices Law
Counsel and legal adviser in numerous trade practices and competition law cases, including:
misleading and deceptive conduct cases
unconscionable conduct claims by the ACCC pursuant to the Trade Practices Act regarding the supply of educational materials in remote indigenous communities in the Northern Territory and subsequent compensation orders:
enforcement action by the ACCC pursuant to the Trade Practices Act regarding price fixing in the demolition industry in government tender process and subsequent pecuniary penalties
enforcement action by the ACCC pursuant to the Trade Practices Act regarding the timber industry and subsequent injunctions, undertakings and compliance programs
misuse of market power in the transport industry and breach of contract claim
Corporations, Securities & Governance Law
Counsel and legal adviser in numerous corporations and securities law cases both for and against the Australian corporate regulator (ASIC), including:
shareholder agreement disputes, shareholder claims and corporate control and governance disputes
actions involving corporations and directors and officers for breach of duty
acting for directors
acting for liquidators
acting for ASIC
defence of a minority shareholder actions
winding up of unregistered investment schemes and appeals against banning orders.
Public Law, Administrative & Constitutional Law
Counsel and legal adviser in relation to constitutional and administrative law matters, including interpretation of Commonwealth and State legislation and delegated legislation, statutory investigations, enforcement actions and court-ordered undertakings and compliance programs.
These administrative reviews, investigations and enforcement actions (prosecution and defence) have involved statutory (e.g. ASIC, ACCC and NDIA) actions, professional and disciplinary bodies and incorporated associations and involved the award of statutory penalties exceeding $0.5m, compliance programs, undertakings and banning orders.
Briefed to act for numerous statutory bodies, councils and professional bodies.
Equity, Succession, Charitable & Not-for-Profit
Counsel and legal adviser in relation to equity, succession, charitable and not-for-profit matters. These have included partnership, family, trust and charity matters which have ranged from property to will claims and have included extensive claims for high net-worth individuals, asset-rich trusts and multi-million dollar estates.
Technology Law, Intellectual Property & Cybersecurity
Counsel and legal adviser in relation to numerous technology and intellectual property claims, including copyright and patent claims, misleading and deceptive conduct claims, passing off actions, protection of confidential information and trade secrets.
Technology law, including cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, data mining, digital forensics, privacy, technology contracts and e-commerce, service level agreements, licensing and distribution agreements, social networks, virtual worlds, websites, start-ups and domain protection.
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Counsel and legal adviser in numerous alternative dispute resolutions (both court-ordered and private), including arbitrations and mediations and in multi-party and multi-stage litigation.
These claims have ranged from determinations of legal rights to multi-million dollar class action claims and settlements, professional indemnity and insurance claims and commercial litigation resolutions.
Sports Law
Counsel and legal adviser for sportspersons, sports associations and sports syndicate members in sports law matters, including brand, marketing and goodwill protection claims, damages claims, disciplinary matter, membership disputes, marine and leisure craft claims and sports management.
Indigenous Rights & Native Title
Unconscionable conduct claims by the ACCC regarding the supply of educational materials in remote indigenous communities in the Northern Territory and subsequent compensation orders.
Indigenous rights claims in relation to illegal removal and negligence, native title claims, indigenous land acquisition and land management disputes.
Indigenous privacy, intellectual property protection and cultural awareness matters.